Vision for Social Security /EPFO

1. This is personal opinion and with new information and learning opinion changes. hence the reader is requested to read it with critical view and should not consider them as factful statements.

   Social Security is complex topic and it is also evolving as the world around us evolves. Social security according to me is a system which gives confidence to a member of society that S/he can and will rise despite facing any unfortunate accident. And confidence comes from consistency, transparency, and clarity.

    When it is needed?

   The unfortunate and unforeseen accident can be anything from a pandemic, world war, accident, death, loss of loved one, loss of sole earning member of family, disability or loss of Job. If the system can provide a member of society the essentials to rise against all these odds with full certainty then, in my opinion the purpose of social security is served.

   What are the essentials?

    The essentials are the popular "Roti, kapda, makaan" also Dream and tools to achieve that dream. 

   While talking about social security we often forget that human is a species which thrives on hope and dream. We as a civilizations have gone through extremely terrible situations be it world wars or recent pandemic of covid 19. We have lost many loved ones and family members but as a society and civilization we are still here because we have hope and dream that a day will come when we will leave these events in past. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that Right to learn (instead of Right to education) should also be included in any discussion that talks about social security as it is a tool for achieving our dream.

    Apart from it, if a person or his forefathers have achieved a certain economic position, an accident should not take them to bottom of the economy as this will lead to snatching of dream.

   Need on which EPFO has been created?

   The EPFO was created considering the low literacy rate among the Citizens of India after Independence and low financial knowledge. The need of creating EPFO is due to lack of financial stability (due to lack of skills) and financial knowledge among Indian citizens so the aim of EPFO for 2047 should be to impart enough skills and financial  knowledge so that all the citizen become excluded and have zero increase in membership. Alternate way is to make all citizens included and have universal minimum income

   The infrastructure can also be developed to impart skills and knowledge in Other developing nations

   What is needed?

   1. Centralized Database of Establishments and Firms with EstId similar to citizens' Aadhaar

   2. Single Return filing portal (domain should be same, url/ pages may be different) for  Establishment

   3. Single inspection agency for inspections of establishments with teams consisting of experts from different divisions for different laws

   4. A centralized dashboard combining data of all agencies for establishments.

   5. Mandatory closure of establishments and sync of the same to est id in sr.1

   6. Aadhaar generation at the time of birth and death certificate linkage with aadhaar.

   7. Simplification of policies so that the implementation can be made transparent and strict. eg: instead of 29 claim types of EPF 4-5 claims should be allowed with no document requirements and limit on number of claims allowed in a period.

   8. Focus on imparting skills and financial literacy among the citizens of India so that there is minimal need of manpower

    

   Vision 2047

   Strong Base for Short term target

   1. Centralized Database, double entry and UAN (Unique UAN) based accounting for members
   2. Single login and Single URL for each of the stakeholders Employees, Employers, Beneficiaries, pensioners.
   3. Single Click(minimum clicks) for Claim or any other benefit processing.
   4. Hiring of Sanctioned strength as per current workload
   5. Organized service  with regular annual hiring and dynamic sanctioned staff strength.
   6. Comprehensive policy for Procuring and augmenting IT Hardware, Manpower and Software with Separation of Requirement Generation Team, User Experience and Design Team, Development team, Testing team and Audit team. The policy should be versatile enough to give automatic approvals in case of delay by the concerned division.
   7. Focus on actionable points instead of buzzwords like AI and blockchain. Focus on bringing every task performed by officials under policy and only tasks as per policy to be performed.
   8. Defining Fraud, fraud prevention policy, Recovery policy.
   9. Insurance of PF fund and revision of Pay as per risk involved.
   10. EDLI limit similar to instrument available through private agencies.
   11. Version control based repository of all EPFO policies in soft format on opensource platform.

   Medium Term

   1.  Centralized Identity of Establishments similar to Aadhaar of Citizen
   2.  Aadhaar Based verification of Bank Accounts
   3.  All Claims and basic services through Auto mode without any human interaction.
   4.  Focus on Training, Research & Development Division for Human Resource Development for EPFO officials and concerned stackholders of EPFO
   5. Aadhaar type unique Identification number for establishment at National level which all other labour agencies can used. This can be used for status of establishment, address, return filing status etc.
   6. Use of GPS technology and digitally locatable address for all stakeholders EPF Office address, establishment address, pensioner address etc.

   Long Term

   1. One agency for social security be it medical, PF, Pension, Insurance and for financial literacy
   2. Minimum New membership in EPF by imparting skills and financial literacy among Indian Citizens.
   3. Opening up social security market to private players and strong auditing mechanism and Compliance infrastructure to ensure that establishments and Social security providing agencies do not default.

    

   
   

    

   Policy framework is very weak...
   
   1. They don't have a policy to keep a public list of policies,
   
   2. They don't have a policy to review old policies
   
   3. They don't have most policies for functioning of technical division
   
   4. They (specific backbone division) don't have policies for role and responsibilities of any officer below ACC

   5. They don't have a policy about creating a nodal officer for specific task

   6. They don't have a policy as to when a office becomes too big to handle and need to be bifurcated in to multiple offices.

   7. They don't have a policy about the definition of fraud
   
   Hence, it is easy for division to not have a policy to circulate any guidelines while making changes in software